Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012 pension changes did little to curtail retirement costs for existing employees. Instead, he and legislative leaders sold the package as a major reform for future workers that would reap savings in decades ahead.

But absent a sudden change of heart, CalPERS next week will by administrative fiat undermine the key anti-spiking provision of the reform law by allowing new workers to fatten their pensions much as current employees can.

Government employees on the CalPERS board are likely to approve this staff recommendation, even though keeping pensions high will mean state and local governments have less money to hire workers. The question is whether other CalPERS board members, including state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Controller John Chiang and appointees of Gov. Jerry Brown will stand for it, allowing their political allegiances to labor to trump the language of the reform law.

They should not.

At issue is the income on which pensions are calculated in the CalPERS system, which serves most Bay Area city governments but not San Jose.

Current employees can boost their pensions by including “special compensation” for “special skills, knowledge, abilities, work assignment, workdays or hours, or other work conditions.” The 2012 reform legislation was very clear: Pensions for new employees should be based on their “normal monthly rate of pay or base pay.” It did not include extra pay items in the base for new employees, a clear strategy to reduce future costs.

But CalPERS staff members have decided lawmakers didn’t really mean it. They’re recommending their board issue regulations that would allow new employees to count the extra items anyhow. When they eventually retire, their pensions would be based on income that includes not just base salary but also any of 98 different types of special pay items — compensation for everything from marksmanship and longevity to being a notary or working on a library reference desk.

Some that jump out include compensation for staying physically fit, premiums for confidential work or “audio visual” assignments, and extra police pay for serving as DUI traffic officers or completing Peace Officer Standard Training courses.

It’s amazing that state and local governments pay extra for many of these items now. Most should be conditions of employment. It’s ridiculous that they count in pension calculations for current workers, and it’s outrageous that CalPERS wants to perpetuate these excesses for new employees.

Critics of the 2012 reforms say they did too little to reduce costs, but Brown has defended the law as significant. He and his appointees need to speak up. So do Lockyer and Chiang, who, by the way, is running for treasurer and should show concern for fiscal responsibility.

In closed door talks, Sen. Dianne Feinstein agreed to a major new water policy for California that sells out the Delta and guts Endangered Species Act protections. Sen. Barbara Boxer is fighting the good fight to remove the rider from her comprehensive water infrastructure bill, but it may take a presidential veto.